I would like to wish you a magnificent and wonderful 2009 and I want to THANK YOU enormously for all your continues support, comments and emails ... there were so many designs, artwork and crafts that I wish I could have shown you also in 2008, but there is just not enough space and time when working by yourself ... but before we leave 2008 I really would like to share this with you ...

... and how about this fantastic book ... Vive la Fête ... a DIY styling book for all occasions ... not your usual Christmas tree will be shown here! It is time for celebration with very different styling, playful homemade garlands and a mega-ultra-special personal vase for an extremely unique birthday ... Vive la Fête ... is brought to you by the fantastic Dutch stylingduo FriedaMaria and the beautiful photography is by Tjitske van Leeuwen. Uitgeverij Snor (mustache) published the book and you can order the book right here ... at BijzonderMooi

When you visit the amazing website from FriedaMaria you will be bombarded by beautiful images, styling ideas and a lot of inspiration ... it was a feast for me this morning to see all the ideas and totally understand why many international magazines and companies like to work with these brilliant ladies ... Ontwerpstudio FriedaMaria ...

:: HAPPY NEW YEAR :: here's to a splendid 2009 :: and may this New Year bring you all you are wishing for ...

I will be back on Monday January 5 2009 .................................

Sometimes things just have a way of turning out somewhat differently than expected (or planned...)... I was planning
on leaving you with some great posts just before Christmas and wishing
all of you a wonderful time, but due to family matters (nothing serious, but just very hectic...) I couldn't finish in time ... SORRY ... but I hope you all had a
great Christmas and enjoyed the time with your loved-ones ... we
had a very special week which we spent with our family and I enjoyed every moment of it ...

And a special thanks to Hana from Real Living ... I can't tell you enough how grateful I'm for this mentioning and how very nice this is for Bloesem and for me ... a great motivation to try and bring you original and nice posts in 2009! {ps. if anybody can help me with getting a hardcopy of Real Living, please let me know, I would be very happy}

Some last minute Christmas ideas to give to your loved ones from Orange Lola ... like this beautiful piece of art by Julia Riordan from her Wild Things collection ... the colors are absolutely fantastic ...

.. or some great handmade handbags by Ingrid Zuleyha from the 'matta' collection ... I love the print and the bag iteself is made from sturdy printed canvas and did you see the gorgeous metallic leather handles ... fits absolutely everything you need. super delicate and pretty! At Orange Lola you can easily find more super fun and unique presents!

Alice's DIY handmade origami Christmas decorations ...Origami wreaths are very easy to make and involve nothing more than some scissors and scraps of paper. I re-used some magazines, catalogues, old maps, and old wrapping paper. A nice little task to do when watching all those Christmas movies! I got my instructions from the excellent step by step tutorial here :: There are also a lot more designs; I found a useful page here:
To summarise this is the method that I used:
1. Cut out eight rectangular pieces of paper that are half as wide as
they are long. So in this instance I used paper 4cm by 8cm.
2. Fold each piece once in half along the length.
3. With the folded edges uppermost fold the top left and right corners down at right angles.
4. Then fold the piece in half across the width so that the flaps of the folded corners are inside.
5. Now you are left with a square end and a pointed end. The top of the
square end has two pockets. Take each piece and poke the pointed ends
into the pockets of another.
When you have linked all eight together you will have your wreath.

Between all the Holiday Decoration posts I thought it would be nice to share some funky furniture with you from Norway ... After graduation Katherine worked as a graphic designer for a year, but felt
that it was not the right choice for her ... the idea is sell one-of-a-kind furniture that are based on recycling
and redesign of old second hand pieces came to her when she sold her apartment in Oslo and bought an old house in her hometown, Tønsberg (one hour from Oslo)..

Katherine wanted furniture that suited their new house, that was unique and had an edge. So she started to buy old furniture and redesign them ... Katherine loves to use a lot of bright colours
and fabrics found on travels or wallpaper from my neighbors
attic.

Hi and welcome to Bloesem! My name is Irene Hoofs and I started this journal in 2006 wanting to share my passion for design, art and craft with you. New to Bloesem? Here are my 10 favorite posts to get you started. Or would you like to see the necklaces I make?